page_title: Karl Malden
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Karl Malden / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Monument of Karl Malden in Belgrade, Serbia
context_page_description: Karl Malden was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor who, according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun authenticity to roles in theater, film and television", especially in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire – for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor – On the Waterfront, Pollyanna, and One-Eyed Jacks. Malden also played in high-profile Hollywood films such as Baby Doll, The Hanging Tree, How the West Was Won, Gypsy and Patton.
  From 1972 to 1977, he portrayed Lt. Mike Stone in the prime time television crime drama The Streets of San Francisco. He was later the spokesman for American Express. Film and culture critic Charles Champlin described Malden as "an Everyman, but one whose range moved easily up and down the levels of society and the IQ scale, from heroes to heavies and ordinary, decent guys just trying to get along", and at the time of his death, Malden was described as "one of the great character actors of his time" who created a number of "powerhouse performances on screen". Malden was also President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1989 to 1992.
context_section_description: Karl Malden, the eldest of three sons, was born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago, Illinois on March 22, 1912, which was his mother's 20th birthday. He was raised in Gary, Indiana.
  His Bosnian Serb father, Petar Sekulović (1886–1975), worked in the steel mills and as a milkman, and his mother, Minnie (née Sebera) Sekulovich (22 March 1892 – 15 July 1995), was a Czech seamstress and actress. The Sekulovich family's roots trace back to Podosoje near Bileća, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Malden  spoke only Serbian until he was in kindergarten; he remained fluent in the language until his death. Malden's father, who had a passion for music, organized the Serbian Singing Federation, uniting immigrant choral groups across the United States.
  As a teenager, Malden joined the Karageorge Choir at Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church where his father produced plays and taught acting. A young Malden took part in many of these plays, which included a version of Jack and the Beanstalk but mostly centered on the community's Serbian heritage. In high school, he was a popular student and the star of the basketball team (according to his autobiography, Malden broke his nose twice while playing, taking elbows to the face and resulting in his trademark bulbous nose).
  He participated in the drama department and was narrowly elected senior class president. Among other roles, he played Pooh-Bah in The Mikado. After graduating from Emerson High School in 1931 with high marks, he briefly planned to leave Gary for Arkansas, where he hoped to win an athletic scholarship, but college officials did not admit him owing to his refusal to play any sport besides basketball. From 1931 until 1934, he worked in the steel mills, as had his father.
  He changed his name from Mladen Sekulovich to Karl Malden at age 22, something director Elia Kazan urged him to do. He anglicized his first name by swapping its letters "l" and "a" and used it as his last and taking his grandfather's first name as his own. This was because the first theatre company he was in wanted him to shorten his name for its marquee. He thought that they wanted to fire him and were using his name as an excuse; although that was not the case, he still changed his name to give them no excuse.
  Malden later stated that he regretted changing his name and tried to insert the name Sekulovich wherever possible in his work. For example, as General Omar Bradley in Patton, as his troops slog their way through enemy fire in Sicily, Malden says "Hand me that helmet, Sekulovich" to another soldier. In Dead Ringer, as a police detective in the squad room, Malden tells another detective: "Sekulovich, gimme my hat." In Fear Strikes Out, Malden, playing Jimmy Piersall's father John, introduces Jimmy to a baseball scout named Sekulovich. In Birdman of Alcatraz, as a prison warden touring the cell block, Malden recites a list of inmates' names, including Sekulovich (Malden's father was not pleased, as he told his son "Mladen, no Sekulovich has ever been in prison!"). In On the Waterfront, in which Malden plays the priest, among the names of the officers of Local 374 called out in the courtroom scene is Mladen Sekulovich, Delegate (played by Fred Gwynne).  Perhaps the most notable usage of his real name, however, was in the television series The Streets of San Francisco, where Malden's character, Mike Stone, employed a legman (played by Art Passarella) with that name.
caption: Monument to Karl Malden in Belgrade, Serbia.
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